After suffering a crippling injury during a tour of Afghanistan, Michael has returned home to a Canadian veteran's care facility. The last thing he wanted was to spend his time with a twelve-year-old girl, but Halley, a spirited, physically disabled Pathfinder, is eager to earn her volunteer badge. The pair is at odds from the start, but they find a shared interest in reading The Red Badge of Courage, the classic American Civil War novel, which spurs them to reveal their own stories. As their friendship grows, uncomfortable truths are exposed and questioned, redefining the meaning of courage and heroism.
Colleen Murphy is an award-winning author who was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and has since relocated to Toronto. Her plays include The December Man (L'homme de décembre)—winner of the 2007 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, the Carol Bolt Award, and the Alberta Theatre Projects Enbridge playRites Award—Beating Heart Cadaver, The Goodnight Bird, and The Piper, among others. She is also a librettist (The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G.) and an award-winning filmmaker whose distinct films have played in festivals around the world. For more information, visit colleenmurphy.ca.
"[Armstrong's War] sidesteps any obvious melodramatic moments with a quick joke or a surprising sharp turn and it provides warm and thoughtful moments..." —David C. Jones, Charlebois Post
"A script built to last." - Mark Leiren-Young, Vancouver Sun
"Framed in surprising plot reversals, a nuanced discussion of hope emerges." - Colin Thomas, Georgia Straight